Binge Eating Psychology

Many people are unaware of the background of eating disorders. Women are more likely than men to develop an eating disorder and they usually develop in childhood before the age of 20 (Ross-Flanigan 1). Women as well as men can develop an eating disorder; it is just more likely for a woman to develop one. Eating disorders are usually developed in adolescent or childhood years when a person is influenced the most. Also “Eating disorders are psychological conditions that involve overeating, voluntary starvation, or both. Anorexia nervosa, anorexic bulimia, and binge eating are the most well-known types of eating disorders” (Ross-Flanigan 1). Many people assume that an eating disorder is when a person staves themselves; they do not realize that it can involve overeating as well. Some eating disorders also involve purging, but not all. People with an eating disorder fear gaining weight even when they are severely underweight. They do not lack an appetite (Ross-Flanigan 1). These people are

Psychological factors also play a large role in obesity. Many people eat in response to negative emotions such as sadness, depression and anger. These people are generally binge eaters. During a binge eating episode, a person eats large amounts of food and feel that they cannot control how much they are eating. These people have more difficulty losing weight and keeping it off than others without a binge eating problem. It is common that binge eaters suffer from low self esteem and depression.

Triggers for developing eating disorders have been found to be similar between the sexes: low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, difficulty coping with emotional and personal problems, and other existing psychological illnesses are common underlying factors in the development of disordered eating ((3)).

Talk to your doctor or mental health provider about your binge eating, and the feelings that you associate with it. It may be helpful to make a list of symptoms that you are experiencing before the appointment. Include personal information like your family’s history of eating disorders, major stress, recent life changes, and a typical day’s eating. Don’t be afraid to include emotions, thoughts, or other information that may seem unrelated to binge eating – it is important to give your provider a full picture of your

I researched this issue for an addictions project last semester and I’ve come to understand that food can actually activate our dopamine receptors. Furthermore, people often have emotional triggers for overeating. I think as a future health educator it’s really important to understand that distinction and be aware of the emotional causes for overeating and binge eating disorder. I rated emotional as number two on my list because it is emotions that are driving my overeating. It’s possible it should be number one considering since it’s the underlying cause the physical behavior I want to change. I am aware that it’s mostly anxiety that is making me overeat or aggravation by family. I’ll have work on find ways to deal with these stressors. I recently changed my study area due to lighting and other comfort issues. The biggest plus to where I was studying it that was quiet and private. What the change of area made me notice is that most of the time, when I start to have an uncomfortable emotion I literally whip open the refrigerator which is about four feet away from where I am studying. Previously I had to walk up steps to get to the kitchen which

Dieting focuses too much on the scale and the food. Pressures from counting calories, food diaries, reading labels, too low calorie plans, and avoiding certain foods using willpower can aggravate symptoms and quickly trigger binge eating.

Research also suggests that genes may be involved in binge eating, since the disorder often occurs in several members of the same family.

​Emotional eating is such a disorder in which tends people to either eat excessively or abstain from eating anything. It may also be defined as continuous or over eating particularly for relieving the negative emotions. Therefore, many scientists and analysts consider emotional eating as maladaptive coping strategy. It has disastrous consequences for the individuals. For example, if this habit of emotional eating is developed within any individual, it can drift that person towards the risk of other eating disorders as well. These eating disorders include anorexia and bulimia nervosa. The issue of emotional eating is not limited to a particular age group or class. A whole range of individuals including youth and old people may undergo this problem. However, it is pertinent to understand the gravity of emotional eating which can give birth to several psychological problems as well.

Binge eating is the strongest predictor of purging, loss of control, and overeating. Each were associated with a higher likelihood of purging than non-pathological eating. (Goldschmidt et al., 2015) Researchers had participants trained in how to record mood, stressful events, and behavior for event contingent (completed after any eating episodes or anorexia nervosa behaviors such as binge eating and purging), interval-contingent (nightly assessments) and signal-contingent recordings (completed response to six daily semi-random prompts by investigators occurring every 2-3 hours. Participants recorded their behaviors and results showed that purging (in the absence of loss of control, and/overeating) may serve to regulate negative affect in a similar way as binge eating. Purging may simply delay the experience of a negative mood. Both loss of control and overeating appeared to be important

One hypothesis suggests that bulimia nervosa is the behavioral manifestation of the underactivity of serotonin. Serotonin is one of the hormones/neurotransmitters that regulates vital functions, such as eating, in the central nervous system. It is also thought to be responsible for controlling states of consciousness and mood. Serotonin is special: its own synthesis and release is enhanced by some foods, suppressed by others, and unaffected by yet others. The effects are all dependent on nutritional content. Transmitters are also affected by not eating. The brain easily detects how long an individual has gone without food. These qualities enable serotonin-releasing neurons to control one type of appetite: that for eating the appropriate amounts of carbohydrates and proteins. However, these same neurons can cause food consumption to affect other behaviors linked with serotonin such as sleepiness and environmental stimuli. They may also allow mood disturbances to override appetite control mechanisms, causing an individual to eat unnecessarily (Winik 27-34).

A history of psychological issues and/or negative self-worth. Certain thought patterns are closely associated with binge eating disorder, including depression, anger, anxiety, a strong need to be in control, perfectionism and rigidity, a need to please others, and negative feelings about yourself, your body, and/or your accomplishments.

When people are having psychological problems they often times turn to food for comfort and do not realize they have developed a food addiction until they start developing symptoms of high blood pressure, diabetes, or congestive heart failure. Some warning signs of an overeater may include eating uncontrollably, preoccupation with body weigh, depression and mood swings, and for women an irregular menstrual cycle. Recovering from compulsive overeating and losing weight are extremely is a difficult process and requires a long term

It is normal to overeat from time to time, but when it comes to binge eating, the urge is persistent and seemingly uncontrollable, and is usually accompanied by feelings of shame and guilt. Binge eating disorder, just like other mental disorders, is strongly linked to depression, low self-esteem, anxiety and stress. Persistent overeating leads to obesity and other serious health conditions.

Many people today eat when their emotionally such as because the person is bored, sad, anger or even happy. Obesity can be caused by things like stress or depression and can cause a number of different health implications. For example a person that is obese is more likely to have diabetes later in life and also suffer heart problems. Over 30% of today’s population seek treatment for weight problems and this is all caused through binge eating. Binge eating is when someone eats large amount of food while feeling they can’t control how much they are eating, people who seriously binge and a very obese develop a disorder call binge eating disorder. The people with this kind of eating disorder find it difficult to lose weight and also find it difficult to control how much they are eating. Many people may need serious help for example counselling or medication or even operation to

Overeating is a consequence of food addiction. This is because food addiction leads to a condition of overeating and this result in issues such as in crease in body weight and obesity. Food addiction is commonly related to sugar addiction. Different individuals have their own reasons for overeating. In some cases, it is a way of realizing self-medication. In this case, individuals overeat in order to deal with negative emotions. Anorexia and bulimia are eating patterns that have been classified as psychiatric disorders (Bulik et al, 2000). However, compulsive overeating is not seen as a disease but it is linked to obesity. In order for food to be declared as an ‘addiction’ by anyone else, it must meet certain criteria set aside by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of